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scarletttries · 11 months

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How Succession Characters would react to getting you pregnant...

Pairings: Kendall Roy x Reader, Roman Roy x Reader, Tom Wambsgans x Reader, Greg Hirsch x Reader, Lucas Mattson x Reader, Stewy Hosseini x Reader

Author's note: Thank you for this fun request! Here is a little bit of thoughts on how a bunch of the Succession characters would react to finding out their partner (the reader) is pregnant ☺️

Kendall Roy

This man has had the importance of succession literally bred into him. His struggles with infertility and trying to be the kind of father he wishes he could be have taken a toll on poor Kendall, making him feel like he'll never have the family he's always wished for. That starts to ease when the two of you get together, slowly coming around to the idea that maybe he doesn't need anything else as long as he has you. But when your period is late, expect Kendall to notice, always keeping track of your body in the back of his mind in a way he just can't help but obsess over. He daren't say anything, certain that in the next week it will turn out to be nothing, his body once again failing to deliver him what he craves so much.

A few days later when you bring him lunch at the office he's all but pushed that hopeful thought out of his head until you present him a carefully wrapped box, inside of which sit a dozen positive pregnancy tests. He's in complete disbelief at first, eyes welling up and repeatedly asking if you're sure, and more uncomfortably for him, if it's definitely his. Once you've suitably convinced him of both of those facts, you'll get full, smiling, happy Kendall, scooping you into his arms and telling you exactly how 'fucking excited he is' loud enough that by 2pm that day everyone in the Waystar office has heard the news.

While you're pregnant Kendall can't stop telling everyone that the two of you are expecting, overflowing with pride and joy and love for your growing family. He's the kind of person to fly in the best midwife/doula/doctor in the world to make sure everything goes exactly to plan, making sure you don't have to lift a finger for the whole nine months. He'd also be an absolute menace for not being able to keep his hands off you, the way you glow as you start showing driving his little brain insane, wanting more than anything to just put baby after baby inside you.

Finally when the baby comes expect Kendall to be there. Yes he'll have a few wobbles and won't be perfect, the reality of his experience of fatherhood making him doubt he'll do anything good enough for this baby, but every time he sees the two of you, he knows he needs to step up and do whatever it takes for his little family, now that he finally has what he's been dreaming of.

Roman Roy

It's taken a long time for Roman just to get comfortable being intimate with you, a slow but not unpleasant journey that the two of you have been on since he first fell embarrassingly hard for you while working at Waystar. Given the months of longing looks and lingering touches it took to get to your first kiss, you never really thought about needing to use protection with Roman, until one particularly special night he finally wanted to try 'the whole thing' with you, surprised and delighted at how perfect it felt take make love to someone he truly cared for, allowing himself to be vulnerable in every way with you. As if wanting to make up for lost time, that night would lead to a real Honeymoon phase of Roman not being able to keep his hands off you, desperate to feel that incredible connection again and again.

You can hardly feel too surprised as the nurse confirms your suspicion, a follow up appointment made and a heavy piece of news on your shoulders as you ride silently in the town-car back to yours and Roman's home. He's his usual ball of emphatic energy as you step through the door, bounding up to you before stopping in his tracks at the clear weight on your chest. The words spill out before you can overthink it, watching carefully as you watch him process it all, slinking down to the floor and sitting cross-legged in silence as he contemplates. Roman had never planned to have a child, not ever expecting to find someone like you to share his life with, and he didn't exactly have the best relationship with the concept of fatherhood, a chill running down his spine at the thought of Logan ever laying a hand on his kid. Then a realisation began to calm him; that he was nothing like his father. And while he wouldn't be perfect, his immature brain sure to make mistakes along the way, he knew he would always make his child feel safe, something he wished someone had done for him all those years ago. So then he'd smile, and pull you down to the floor with him, and laugh his teary-eyed hyena laugh, and wrap you in his arms, protecting all three of you for the next chapter of your lives.

It's safe to say his family would be extremely surprised by the announcement, particularly Logan, who'd rejoice in a way that made Roman feel even more sure that he'd never be that kind of cruel, manipulative father that only wanted his children for what they could do for him. Throughout the pregnancy Roman would be up and down, jubilant and terrified, proud and ashamed, the whole thing trudging up more than its fair share of childhood trauma. But when it comes down to it, he'll be there to step up, immediately swearing to do whatever it takes to make sure your little one never feels the way he spent his life feeling.

Tom Wambsgans

Despite all the venom and acid that burned him in his first marriage (this one's for you team Tomshiv divorce), Tom is peak fatherhood material. You only have to look at the intensely caring way he talks about Mondale, the bizarre energy he's put into raising Greg, and of course, his absolute undying affections for you, to know this man would coddle a child like no one's business. You wouldn't even be scared to tell him, the news unplanned but certainly not unpleasant, the way this man fucks like a freight train clearly no match for the average condom.

You'd make an event of it, ordering balloons and cake and flowers to your shared duplex, so when he got home to a sea of congratulations there would be no doubt. A midwest man through and through, if you weren't already married he'd buy you a ring the very next day, the floods of happy tears stopping long enough to let him pick a perfect diamond. He'd spend half the week on the phone telling everyone he knows, so excited to grow your little family, and be the kind of man he'd been raised to be. He's definitely type to read an unhelpful number of articles to make sure he's doing everything he can 'to serve you and your growing child during this strenuous time', calling his mother to fly across the states to help out as you get closer to your due date. This man already has a short-list of the best preschools in New York by the time your bundle of joy comes in the world, ready to be a present father and husband, even if it means for once his career has to take a backseat.

Greg Hirsch

You had worked very very hard to make it crystal clear to Greg that whatever happened between the two of you was strictly on a casual basis, not wanting to get drawn into his complex family dynamics, or end up the centre of ATN news story. Despite his clear infatuation he had agreed, following every boundary and rule you set out to the best of his slightly clueless abilities. So when you triple checked the calendar and realised what had happened, you couldn't help but lock yourself in the Waystar women's bathroom and scream enough curses to make Kendall Roy blush. After deciding this was something you wanted, you'd finally let Greg buy you dinner, surprised by the calibre of restaurant he picked for what was really just a first date.

When you tell him the news, and make it clear you don't expect anything from him, you'd be pleasantly surprised by how loudly and excitedly he proclaims "that he loves kids!" earning a few uncomfortable looks from the tables around you. He'd be stressed and feel unprepared for sure, but he wanted more of a relationship with you and this was going to put that on the cards for him, plus he'd always wanted a family of his own so he couldn't wait to tell 'Uncle Tom and Great Grandpa Ewen' the news.

Realistically he'd be quite a useless partner, buying you your favourite sushi without realising you can't have it, and wanting to throw a party in your favourite bar to celebrate, forgetting you can't drink, but the thought would always be there. And if you need anything done, he's ready and waiting, even if he needs the clearest possible instructions and will end up having to call you for more information anyway. No matter how much trouble it gets him in with work/Tom he'd be at every appointment, proud to have a reason to pull himself together and excited to be a grown up, if it means being one by your side. Once you have your baby, he'd 100% bring them into the office, showing them around Waystar and being shocked at anyone implying its not appropriate to bring your baby to work, having Tom back him that it's important for all the Roy family to be there together.

Stewy Hosseini

Coming from the happiest family in the Succession universe, Stewy's often thought about having a family of his own, but his lifestyle of late nights and kissing boys on Molly means it's not something that he's ever really applied himself to pursuing. So when the two of you start dating he takes it seriously; he can tell he could have a real future with you, the type of warm, intelligent, kind person he's always wanted to find and settle down with. It wouldn't be long until you were introduced to his parents, watching over his nieces and nephews together and giving Stewy no choice but to pray you'll be the mother of his children. He'd want to go through the traditional order of things, getting married and building a home together before you started to grow your family, but when a happy night of too much rose in the hot tub on his balcony leads to a positive pregnancy test, he'd be absolutely elated. He'd call in every favour he was owed across the city to get your dream wedding together within a month, dragging you round viewings of townhouses with little gardens he immediately describes as 'perfect for the little one.'

Stewy would still respect your independence though, making his hopes and preferences known, but ultimately letting you call all the shots, just a helping hand and credit card to make whatever you're dreaming of come true. He's less protective than some of the others, but only because he knows you're tough as nails now and always, not wanting you to feels smothered and wrapped in bubble-wrap, still making sweet plans for just the two of you before and after the baby comes. Stewy would be such a happy and excited father, truly just a joy to be around.

Lukas Mattson (warning: darker themes, reader discretion advised)

Even just being seduced by Mattson would feel a little bit unsettling; uncertain of exactly how much of what he said he really meant, and what was all just charm and bravado that seemed to effortlessly ooze out of him. So when he insists that you don't need protection, or says he'll pull out but always does it a moment too late, you don't realise what he's up to until it's too late. You see from the moment Lucas met you, he knew you had to be his, and the easiest way to tie your lives together forever is to get you pregnant.

He'd pretend to be shocked by the news, like he hadn't worked night and day to baby-trap you, asking you sincerely if you want to keep it, and telling you you'd want for absolutely nothing if you just let him look after the two of you. He says it so sweetly, so sincerely, hovering his shaking hand just shy of your stomach and looking down at you with nothing but awestruck affection in his eyes that you can't help but fall for him, this image of devotion exactly what you want for your future. And as you say you want to keep it, and have your family with him, he'll fall to his knees and tear up, his whole life feeling like it lead to this moment, a child to make the best future he can for.

He'll throw himself into his work for a lot of your pregnancy, a new perspective on his work with AI, tinkering with the latest baby tech to make sure you two have everything you could possibly want to help you with this stage of your lives. You'll grow slightly more used to his intensity as he points it in a helpful direction, worshipping the ground you walk on and trying desperately to make everything as good as it can be for your little family.

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thissacrificeisnecxesary · 7 months

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The question asked of me; should we eat day old microwaved fish

Me a diplomat: Pavement, evil horrible girly girl pop girly 8th grade kendall Roy teenage girl placebo drunk drunk girl who is loud and loud and loud and loud and you shouldn’t love her but you do and it’s not because overall she’s actually a really good person or really even that pretty (pretty enough to be. I’m a movie) (not really) but you love her anyway cause she’s the main character like plot armor from the audience, you are good and you are me so I am good. Even if I’m not very good it’s like I’m still good cause ultimately, she’s leaning is she not? So maybe that’s what it is. Eccentricities. Lux Lisbon if she didn’t wanna kill herself or, Melinda sturniolo if she didn’t wanna kil herself or possibly Katina’s everdeen if she didn’t wanna kill herself Sierra Sierra something something mascara, clean girl but not really, smart girl but not really, cool girl but not really, popular girl but not really, if you’re anything are you still a woman? Or is girlhood just to hard. You’re shivering and it’s kinda-of funny looking. I don’t need no timekeeper I don’t need noninterlocuter and baby you would look. A little cuter day by day. Pavement is how we started this business. Which is more accurately to say we built this city on math rock and virginity. That was mean. I really like pavement. I bet you do FUCKIGN faggot. Holy shirt what the the hey man you can’t say that- and you definitely can’t call me that cause I’m not gay my girlfriend is right here. She shcks tho yeah? What are you talking about? You just sorta grabbed onto the closest piece of heterosexuality, that couldn’t see your disturbing aversion (complimentary) and you held on tight. But she sucks man. Not a good girlfriend. We’re actually very happy. Oh I’m sure you are classic fag on vampire cunt action. You’re jellous. Jesus Christ man. What not like in a hornet way. Okay. Whag? What what what what- why do you let girls in who have crushes. What is the problem with a girl who has a teeny little crush, that’s a little tiny psychotic obsession but that’s just whag it means to be a live. Love is a wound and it should make you want to die and throw up. I guess I don’t totally disagree with all of that. Bug fuck my clown alter ego tells you that to live is to

Wash your hands

Pick sleep over the moon girl girl girl girl girl girl girl girl is there an inherent disconnection between my lover because of

- autism

- Growing up poor

- Growing up white

- Developmental disability

- Incest

- Furry porn

- The thing

- Undefined man mental illness #1

- Too many drugs

- Slender man

- The nightmares

- The neglect

- The great molasses flood

Clss rae se amles semaj

The story he told him was of the camel and the other one something religious maybe? Or another animal like a fable, Socrates; but the guy who made fables. Jesse james but it’s Christian bald, Christian bale on the other hand, he did Drew’s American psyop corner. Do you guys forgive enya for say ing the n word?

Irreverent is a word I don’t know the meaning of. Stalinism is a word you can’t seem to get right, it’s okay though, it’s not a big deal, ur intrinsic behindednsss this aversion this left handedness, what do we say? It’s hard to be your own person ; in highschool, Diane Nguyen would get it.

Be blunt- that’s good way to get through life, it is very odd and it leaves people questioning- which is quite the opposite of what blunt is supposed to mean. I guess what I mean is be vague more accurately, but insist on that vagueness with the confidence of someone who’s actually saying something. This is what it means to be an artist. You abstract don’t you not? Yoh can take all of the things and grate them up, this is the baby eater scene from haunting of hill house (watch it) yoh kkw what I’m talking about it’s very good. See? That’s vague, that’s impressive, if they even remember, then they’ll get a neat little postcard into how your brain works, a suitable amount that is manageable for a human being. There’s simply to much to much to get to them in an efficient manner so you must abandon this pathology, that, intellectualizing your existence. Make it’s it makes it much harder to live. But that’s what we’re doing right now. That’s the sacrifice THAG writers and poets and artists talk about- taking tiny tiny insignificant pieces of your brain and handing them off slowly, if it all comes out at once it’s not. They can’t do it they can’t deal with it. But in small manageable sizable pieces you can give them the message, letter by kwetter dot mmy dot. Morse code out your messages, so under offer they can’t be read. You write like a broken disc you write like you’re not human

You write like you’re not human

Like write like human human

I feel Hands in the end. I’ll feel them in the end, born to callously walk through the halls. Born to leave men. I don’t respect it. I don’t let them in my home, like a rabid dog I can’t be near them. I’m scared of them. I there’s a man’s voice in the house,

Learn to stim or you’re gonna be stuck here a while.

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seoafin · 10 months

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someone mentioned how in the table scene when camry is fixing the table he asks syd for help holding up the table while he fixes it he’s venting n she’s holding up the weight of the table and then they switch camry holds the table for her while she’s the one unwinding and being vulnerable…..they haunt me i hate them so much and if i say they’re stsgu coded??? therye the best (they’re not gordon ramsey but u know💀respectively)

i don’t feel it’s much they’re twin flames but they definitely complete each other and make up for what the other lacks. separate they’re drowning fighting for air but together they’re pushing each other to the surface. UGH i’m obsessed with them??? i’m glad that it at least looks like the writers have ideas for the way their characters r heading because even tho it just started n the restaurant thing went rlly well carmy is self destructing ending his relationship(thank god) dogging richie blaming himself??? n syd vomiting in the bush god bby. ugh i’m still thinking about mikey need to give him a baby to calm him down. someone said carmy was the poor man’s kendall roy but honestly i like him wayyyyy more than kendall😭😭 i hated his ass🙈like idk carmy is insane man kendall is just a lame lil loser whose not that good at what he does unless he’s spiraling AND LIKE YEA i see the similarities but UGH CARMY😍😍😍 is soooooo hot he’s pathetic in a diff kinda way like i feel like if i saw kendall roy in a ball crying in the floor i’d kinda wanna kick him but camry would beat my ass🤭 i also kinda bawled like a baby at the scene with jaime lee curtis n sugars husband i was taken aback by that many celebrity cameos but like no one else could’ve delivered the performance jaime delivered anyways man i rlly do hope the restaurant succeeds i rlly love my pookies n i feel like the season ended too fast putting all the episodes out instantly is fucking them over people need some time to digest them. anyways richie n taylor swift i love him and i want nothing but the best for him i have main character gagger syndrome but he’s coming up there

i genuinely don't understand the ppl calling them platonic soulmates because they have so much CHEMISTRY IT'S KILLING ME!!!! also why would they insult carmy by comparing him to kendall......my man is a WORKING MAN while kendall is a failson nepo baby 📢📢📢

also omg the celeb cameos drove me INSANE i was staring at every celeb in awe lmfao they went ALL IN with the a-listers. also one of my main gripes with the season probably is the fact that they devoted so much time to carmy and claire....like i gettttt it but also. i just wanted more insight into all the prepping and planning that went into the restaurant. i think every episode should've been one hour but yeah. fishes was one of the best episodes i've seen in so long and it gave us soooo much insight in carmy and his family and the reason why he thrives in dysfunction lmfao rip

#that table scene WAS romantic (to ME)#'if saw kendall roll in a ball crying in the floor i'd kinda wanna kick him'#did you know you're the realest person alive #also once again richie screaming love story in the car was one of the best things Ever. i saw a comment it was also indicative of hi #falling in love with his life's new purpose and it made me think YEAH.#ask

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pynkhues · 2 years

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Hi again! I was just re-reading your meta about Logan’s use of emasculating language with Kendall and Roman, and how likely it is that Logan told Kendall to keep his sex life in line at an early age. Which like, ew gross. But also Logan must have been pretty focused on succession and dynasty at one point, his eldest son as his natural successor, and I then wonder how it ties in to him having married into aristocracy. Like, it’s kind of royal, right? This sort of ‘have your fun but make sure you get married and have kids, preferably with the right sort’ pressure on the eldest son. And so I then wonder about how much Kendall actually wanted to have kids, and how similar he might be to Caroline in that respect (who must also have had that same pressure to marry and reproduce applied to her by her own family). Although I do tend to feel that Kendall, when he does manage to engage with his children, is more loving towards them than Logan and Caroline ever were with him and his siblings. So maybe he did want to have kids after all, and his want of them happened to align with Logan’s desires. Which must have added another layer to the emotions in play when Iverson was born - the eldest son finally producing another son, dynasty secured for sexist racist grandpa. And then for both Kendall and Iverson to slowly come to represent failure in Logan’s eyes, because they both fail to meet Logan’s view of power and masculinity. Like, UGH. And ugh, this ask is a mess, I’m sorry! Just thinking about the Roys in royalty/dynastic terms gives me feelings because royalty is so very fucked up and usually means terrible things for the people living within that system.

Hi hi! And yeah, it’s all such fascinating things to think about.

In terms of the dynasty / succession stuff, and particularly Logan and Caroline’s relationship, I think it’s kind of this classic conflict between old money and new. Caroline brings with her not just the prestige of old money aristocracy, but with it the roots. She’s established in a way Logan wasn’t as a young man, and likely was still in the process of becoming when they met. There’s very often a sort of instability with new money that breeds insecurity, because ultimately that power and that wealth is unproven.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my favourite authors, and it was a theme he was pretty obsessed with, I mean, gosh, it’s the entire crux of The Great Gatsby. Gatsby’s faking it until he makes it, and while he eventually makes his fortune before the novel starts, by that point, Daisy, who’s old money, has married somebody else who’s already established as old money.

It's probably best articulated in this quote:

‘However glorious might be his future as Jay Gatsby, he was at present a penniless young man without a past, and at any moment the invisible cloak of his uniform might slip from his shoulders. So he made the most of his time. He took what he could get, ravenously and unscrupulously—eventually he took Daisy one still October night, took her because he had no real right to touch her hand. He might have despised himself, for he had certainly taken her under false pretenses. I don’t mean that he had traded on his phantom millions, but he had deliberately given Daisy a sense of security; he let her believe that he was a person from much the same stratum as herself—that he was fully able to take care of her. As a matter of fact he had no such facilities—he had no comfortable family standing behind him and he was liable at the whim of an impersonal government to be blown anywhere about the world.’

I don’t think Logan was penniless when he met Caroline, but it’s canon that he grew up very poor, and I think a huge part of his attraction to her was about legitimising not just himself and his status, but that of any future children. (And actually, Connor too. I mean, I’ve talked about it on here a lot before, but the combination of Connor knowing so much about Caroline’s estates at Shiv’s wedding, and Connor being invited to Caroline’s makes me think Logan made active efforts to bring Logan up with him).

Logan is a character who’s strategizing even when he’s not, and we know legacy’s important to him, but I think writing his children a history different from his own was important to him too. Marrying Caroline meant any children he had with her would, technically, be old money. They’d have his name but her roots, which would be a way of sort of grafting himself onto her family tree, so to speak.

He got to give his children the best of both worlds, which honestly, I think he did and still does want. He never wanted them to have to scrape and survive – or 'take ravenously and unscrupulously', as Fitzgerald beautifully puts it, like he did – just after he gave that to them, he resented them for everything they had. Still resents them for it, gosh. Kendall was spot on when he told him in 1.07 that Logan was jealous of what he gave them, and he was especially right when he told him he couldn’t handle it.

A part of Logan lives through his kids and I think he wants to give them what he didn’t get to have as a way of giving it to himself. I think he wants to do that because he believes it'll heal his childhood trauma, but life doesn't work that way. His children are their own people, but because Logan can’t really differentiate, he views their flaws as his failings, as both a father and a man. That projection just perpetuates this cycle of abuse because the only way Logan was ever taught how to handle failure was through violence and taking what he could, so he takes whatever his children can give him, and tries to destroy whatever they can’t or whatever they won’t.

It’s vicious and fascinating and horrible and so, so compelling to me.

In that sense though, I tend to think Kendall having kids so young with Rava was actually more about Kendall than about Logan, at least consciously. I’m sure there was a lot of subconscious stuff happening in both of them, but timeline-wise, it makes for an interesting match. From Alan Ruck saying Connor’s 15 years older than Kendall, and Kendall turning 40 in s3, and, from my timeline I’ve been mocking up, it’s been maaaybe a year since Logan’s 80th in 1.01 – it would make Logan 25 when he had Connor. Given I think Iverson and Sophie are supposed to be somewhere between the age of 12 and 14, it’d put Kendall then at about 26 when he had them, and I think in terms of Kendall’s character (and his comparing in 2.08 at Dundee), that it feels believable that he’d be trying to match his father’s milestones.

It's an internalised way of trying to live up to his father's legacy, to following in his footsteps literally instead of figuratively, to making sure his dad knew that he was the one. He was the second born, but he was the prince to crown.

I could be wrong of course, and maybe Logan was putting the pressure on him, or Rava wanted them, or maybe their friends were doing it (although I doubt it just because the show has specifically had so many characters not have kids), but the fact that Sophie, if not Iverson too (although I do tend to think he’s biological), is pretty clearly adopted I think tells us there was a sense of wanting kids then and there.

Either way, I do think Logan would’ve responded positively to it in the first instance. I do think dynasty and succession is important to him, especially when you add to the fact that it’s generally third generation that transitions you from a new money house to an old money house. There’d be a certain class / prestige security for Logan in having grandchildren, and, like you said, it secures this dynasty for him. It pretty clearly rubs up against his extreme fear of aging, to say nothing of the fact that Sophie’s both a girl and not biological, and Iverson’s more or less textually autistic and not performing the correct sort of masculinity that Logan wants, but still, I do think he likes having them.

Even putting the dynasty stuff aside, I think it’s normal for people who’ve been abused and abandoned by family to want to create a big one to surround themselves with, even if they treat them badly. Logan feels, generally, that he has control over this new family he’s made for himself, and it’s a control he tries to exert almost absolutely. It’s legacy and succession, but it’s also a child pushing all his dolls and stuffed animals onto his bed and not letting anyone else touch them.

He was mistreated by his family, so he created a new one, but when that mistreatment is all you’ve ever known, for a man like Logan who refuses any help to reflect and grow, is it any wonder he mistreats them as well?

And you’re right too that that mistreatment just keeps spreading. Trauma is never contained to just one person, which is so beautifully encapsulated in this show, it just sprawls out and out and out, and the second traumatised people get an ounce of power, that sprawl just has vaster and vaster ramifications.

#i think kendall THOUGHT he wanted kids when he had them #if that makes sense?#and i do think he loves them #i just also think he has no idea what he's doing because the only fatherhood tips he's taking are:#'not like my dad'#lmao #it's extremely sad #go to therapy kendall!!!!#and logan too actually #godspeed to the latter's therapist #but p l e a s e #sorry to segue into more logan meta #i just find him a really interesting character haha #and the ramifications of him Not Dealing with His Trauma as basically the crux of the show?#creative genius #i'm so into it #like #narratively #not in any other way haha #i do wonder about the age gap between sophie and iverson #i tend to think kendall and rava were a bit like a bunch of people i know #where they were having no luck in fertility so adopted #only to get pregnant very quickly afterwards #kendall roy #rava roy #logan roy #caroline collingwood #caroline x logan #kendall x rava #iverson roy

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rockislandadultreads · 4 years

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Non-fiction titles about Serial Killers, for any murderino

The Kill Jar: Obsession, Descent, and a Hunt for Detroit's Most Notorious Serial Killer by J. Reuben Appelman

Four children were abducted and murdered outside of Detroit during the winters of 1976 and 1977, their bodies eventually dumped in snow banks around the city. J. Reuben Appelman was six years old at the time the murders began and had evaded an abduction attempt during that same period, fueling a lifelong obsession with what became known as the Oakland County Child Killings. Autopsies showed the victims to have been fed while in captivity, reportedly held with care. And yet, with equal care, their bodies had allegedly been groomed post-mortem, scrubbed-free of evidence that might link to a killer. There were few credible leads, and equally few credible suspects. That’s what the cops had passed down to the press, and that’s what the city of Detroit, and J. Reuben Appelman, had come to believe. When the abductions mysteriously stopped, a task force operating on one of the largest manhunt budgets in history shut down without an arrest. Although no more murders occurred, Detroit and its environs remained haunted. The killer had, presumably, not been caught. Eerily overlaid upon the author’s own decades-old history with violence, The Kill Jar tells the gripping story of J. Reuben Appelman’s ten-year investigation into buried leads, apparent police cover-ups of evidence, con-men, child pornography rings, and high-level corruption saturating Detroit’s most notorious serial killer case.

Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City by Kate Winkler Dawson

London was still recovering from the devastation of World War II when another disaster hit: for five long days in December 1952, a killer smog held the city firmly in its grip and refused to let go. Day became night, mass transit ground to a halt, criminals roamed the streets, and some 12,000 people died from the poisonous air. But in the chaotic aftermath, another killer was stalking the streets, using the fog as a cloak for his crimes. All across London, women were going missing--poor women, forgotten women. Their disappearances caused little alarm, but each of them had one thing in common: they had the misfortune of meeting a quiet, unassuming man, John Reginald Christie, who invited them back to his decrepit Notting Hill flat during that dark winter. They never left. The eventual arrest of the "Beast of Rillington Place" caused a media frenzy: were there more bodies buried in the walls, under the floorboards, in the back garden of this house of horrors? Was it the fog that had caused Christie to suddenly snap? And what role had he played in the notorious double murder that had happened in that same apartment building not three years before--a murder for which another, possibly innocent, man was sent to the gallows? The Great Smog of 1952 remains the deadliest air pollution disaster in world history, and John Reginald Christie is still one of the most unfathomable serial killers of modern times. Journalist Kate Winkler Dawson braids these strands together into a taut, compulsively readable true crime thriller about a man who changed the fate of the death penalty in the UK, and an environmental catastrophe with implications that still echo today.

Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold Schechter

In the pantheon of serial killers, Belle Gunness stands alone. She was the rarest of female psychopaths, a woman who engaged in wholesale slaughter, partly out of greed but mostly for the sheer joy of it. Between 1902 and 1908, she lured a succession of unsuspecting victims to her Indiana “murder farm.” Some were hired hands. Others were well-to-do bachelors. All of them vanished without a trace. When their bodies were dug up, they hadn’t merely been poisoned, like victims of other female killers. They’d been butchered.

Hell’s Princess is a riveting account of one of the most sensational killing sprees in the annals of American crime: the shocking series of murders committed by the woman who came to be known as Lady Bluebeard. The only definitive book on this notorious case and the first to reveal previously unknown information about its subject, Harold Schechter’s gripping, suspenseful narrative has all the elements of a classic mystery—and all the gruesome twists of a nightmare.

Mad City: The True Story of the Campus Murders That America Forgot by Michael Arntfield

In fall 1967, friends Linda Tomaszewski and Christine Rothschild are freshmen at the University of Wisconsin. The students in the hippie college town of Madison are letting down their hair—and their guards. But amid the peace rallies lurks a killer.

When Christine’s body is found, her murder sends shockwaves across college campuses, and the Age of Aquarius gives way to a decade of terror.

Linda knows the killer, but when police ignore her pleas, he slips away. For the next forty years, Linda embarks on a cross-country quest to find him. When she discovers a book written by the murderer’s mother, she learns Christine was not his first victim—or his last. The slayings continue, and a single perpetrator emerges: the Capital City Killer. As police focus on this new lead, Linda receives a disturbing note from the madman himself. Can she stop him before he kills again?

Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer

When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are likely Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, and Kate Bender? The narrative we're comfortable with is one where women are the victims of violent crime-not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally male that, in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared that There are no female serial killers. Inspired by Telfer's Jezebel column of the same name, Lady Killers disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Although largely forgotten by history, female serial killers rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite. Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different female serial killer and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media as well as the stereotypes and sexist cliches that inevitably surround her. When you think of serial killers throughout history, the names that come to mind are likely Jack the Ripper, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. But what about Tillie Klimek, Moulay Hassan, and Kate Bender? The narrative we're comfortable with is one where women are the victims of violent crime-not the perpetrators. In fact, serial killers are thought to be so universally male that, in 1998, FBI profiler Roy Hazelwood infamously declared that There are no female serial killers. Inspired by Telfer's Jezebel column of the same name, Lady Killers disputes that claim and offers fourteen gruesome examples as evidence. Although largely forgotten by history, female serial killers rival their male counterparts in cunning, cruelty, and appetite. Each chapter explores the crimes and history of a different female serial killer and then proceeds to unpack her legacy and her portrayal in the media as well as the stereotypes and sexist cliches that inevitably surround her.

The Spider and the Fly: A Reporter, a Serial Killer, and the Meaning of Murder by Claudia Rowe

In September 1998, young reporter Claudia Rowe was working as a stringer for the New York Times in Poughkeepsie, New York, when local police discovered the bodies of eight women stashed in the attic and basement of the small colonial home that Kendall Francois, a painfully polite twenty-seven-year-old community college student, shared with his parents and sister. Growing up amid the safe, bourgeois affluence of New York City, Rowe had always been secretly fascinated by the darkness, and soon became obsessed with the story and with Francois. She was consumed with the desire to understand just how a man could abduct and strangle eight women—and how a family could live for two years, seemingly unaware, in a house with the victims’ rotting corpses. She also hoped to uncover what humanity, if any, a murderer could maintain in the wake of such monstrous evil. Reaching out after Francois was arrested, Rowe and the serial killer began a dizzying four-year conversation about cruelty, compassion, and control; an unusual and provocative relationship that would eventually lead her to the abyss, forcing her to clearly see herself and her own past—and why she was drawn to danger.

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